Story One: Where Enchantment Runs Rampant
by SpelCastrMax
Summary: As Aladdin learns to adjust with his kids becoming teenagers, Cassim brings a strange girl he found in the desert to Agrabah for help that she doesn't seem to want (first in a short series).


STORY ONE: Where Enchantment Runs Rampant  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em and you know it.  
Author's Note: This is the first in a mini series of short stories. Their all about Aladdin & Jasmine's two kids and their best friend. Normally, I'm not into fics about the next generation, but I read a few really good ones and wanted to try it. After the first one I just kept going. WARNING: This series will be about 16 stories long. Okay, I'm rambling so please just read and review. By the way, I don't know how long a monkey like Abu would live and since I'm too lazy to research it, we are going to assume he's either immortal or just refuses to die.  
  
  
A young woman lay unconscious amongst the creeping black sand. Her light brown hair spread out around her, the red tint to it shining in the moonlight. A lone rider with a parrot on his shoulder was tempted to turn back, yet the little bit of hero in him made him ride hard into the magical powder, leaning down to lift the girl into his old arms. He slung her over the horse just as the animal whinnied in protest to the sands creeping up his hooves. Letting out a loud command, the rider headed out of there, never looking back until he was in Agrabah.  
The man always had way of being in the royal palace before anyone knew it. He lay the girl on a pile of cushions in the throne room while the loud parrot, complained. "Oh, this is just great, Kassim! You know, I thought when I joined up with you there would be no more death-defying rescue missions!"  
"I couldn't just leave her there, Iago," the thief told the bird.  
"I just hope you aren't going to want to keep her," Iago snorted.  
Iago's obnoxious voice had awoken the palace's owners. The young sultan ran out to find out what was going on, followed by his wife who rubbed her large brown eyes.  
Kassim met the sultan halfway to give a quick hug. "Son, I thought I'd stop by for a surprise visit."  
A blue genie came flying into the room dressed as an old miner from 1849 carrying a shotgun. He spit a wad of tobacco across the room and asked, "Dag nammit! Who's on my property?"  
"Genie, calm down," the sultan told his friend, "Father's here."  
"Oh, sorry," Genie replied sheepishly, turning into his normal form. He then noticed the girl. "Ooh, now what have we here?" He inspected the strange clothing she wore and gasped. "Why she's wearing the latest fashion yet to come! These are A.D. jeans. I've been looking everywhere for a pair like this! Look, poly-cotton material. This isn't even invented yet."  
"Are you saying she's from the future?" Kassim asked with skepticism in his voice.  
"I'm saying she's from so far into the future that her mind has been numbed by such things as television and video games! We must be careful in case it's lowered her IQ any." Genie seemed very excited about this, confused beyond belief, but excited.  
The sultan, his wife, Kassim, and Genie all bent over as she began to stir. Her eyes blinked open and when they focused, she panicked.  
"No, it's okay," the sultan told her, "We're here to help you. I'm Aladdin. This is Jasmine and..."  
The girl jumped up with a scream. In the torch light they could see her chest rapidly moving up and down with every breath. She began to speak quickly in a language none of them could understand and refused to let anyone close enough to calm her.  
"What we have here is a failure to communicate!" Genie pulled a book out of his red sash and sped through the pages. "Yes!"  
"You know what she's saying?" Jasmine asked hopefully.  
"Not a clue, but I've found the cure for the common cold," the blue man exclaimed. The room glared at him and he apologized, going back to turning the pages. At last, he read over something. "This should do the trick!" Then, Genie threw a golden light over the girl. She screamed again and began to run past them all. "I don't get it. That worked for the Little Mermaid," he pointed out.  
The girl continued to glance over her shoulder on her way to the exit. She knocked over the prince and princess of Agrabah. The monkey they carried let out a confused howl. The girl picked herself up and dashed away before anyone could catch her. Genie followed, calling out something about it being rude to run in someone else's home.  
"Do I even want to know what's going on?" Prince Kalil questioned as he lifted Abu the monkey back onto his shoulder, then proceed to help his sister off the floor.  
"Sure, help the monkey first," Princess Almira grumbled, "Who was that?"  
"Someone I found," Kassim told his grandchildren.  
Kal turned to his parents and jokingly said, "Humph, you never let us bring home strays."  
Aladdin shook his head and asked why his kids were dressed and wide awake. He knew that the brother and sister had snuck out to track a group of bandits, yet he wanted to hear their side of it.  
"Not good," Mira sighed, "I'm tired, so I'm going to bed. You handle this one." With a pout on her face, the girl left her older brother to summarize their adventures that night.  
"It's getting worse out there, Dad. Every time we lock up three of the thieves, three more seem to show up," Kal told him, "If we could just find their hideout or leader everything could be solved. We were so close, but we lost the guy in the market place." Kalil was more of a ruler than his sister. She was more interested in clothes. Neither one could really pass up a good adventure, though. It was in their blood.  
"You shouldn't go out there alone," Aladdin said sternly, "You two could get hurt." Jasmine just rolled her eyes at her husbands futile attmepts discipline.  
It was decided that nothing more could be done that night. Genie was on the hunt for the girl, however, never did find her. The next morning, missing food was the only evidence she left.  
Kal and Mira had another plan to search for the bandits nest. They wanted to do it on their own, to show their parents they could. It was that teenager independence beginning to shine through.  
Mira distracted Aladdin and Jasmine while Kalil crept to the palace doors in order to continue the hunt. He was stopped by Iago. "Going somewhere?"  
"No," the prince quickly replied, trying not to seem in anyway suspicious. The parrot gave him an "I'm not buying it" expression. Kal reached into his sash for a purse of gold. He thrust it at Iago and hissed, "There! Now don't you dare tell my parents I went to the marketplace."  
  
The prince could fit into the marketplace with ease. He used to say it was the street rat in him. He loved being there watching the people in their everyday routines. It could also be boring in the city and Kal loved it when things were boring. As I said before, he was always up for an adventure, but the quiet of a dull day was always welcomed by him and his sister. His entire life had been one quest or monster after another. Mother and Father seemed to live for such adventures, while the children slowly learned how to follow with the same courage.  
It wasn't long until Kal found one of the men he sought. All of the bandits in the gang had a cobra tattooed on the back of his left hand. This particular man wore a gold ring on every other finger. He pulled out a dagger and was about to attack one of the merchants.  
Kal was ready to trail the imposing man when he saw Genie checking in pots and behind carts, calling, "Girl? Paranoid girl? You in there?"  
The prince ducked into an ally until the semi-phenomenal friend had passed by. He released a sigh, knowing Genie would have sent him home in a flash. Genie had been his overprotective nanny growing up and it was a role he never truly gave up. When the coast was clear, Kal turned around the corner, hoping the bandit hadn't left. Luckily, the thief was still close by. The bad part was that his tattooed hand was close enough to grab Kal by the collar and push him back into the ally.  
"You're the street rat who's been following my men," he growled, pulling out the thin dagger that glistened in the small bit of sunlight the overhead clothesline had provided.  
"Sorry, I don't know what your talking about," Kal said, wishing he had inherritated the good lying skills from his dad.  
"I think you do." The thief glared and, as if they sensed their leaders anger, three more men with cobra tattoos blocked off the boy's only exit. All Kal could do was swallow hard and wish that his brain would work faster.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the palace Jasmine finally cut off her daughter's endless babbling about why women should always wear skirts to formal affairs. "Mira, this is all fascinating, but you can stop. I'm sure Kal has made it out of the palace by now."  
Aladdin turned to Jasmine with a confused expression. "You mean..." She nodded and he jumped up from his sitting position. Whistling for the other magical family friend (flying carpet), the sultan scolded Mira. "When I get back you both are going to be in big trouble."  
Just before he flew out the window, Iago soared in to say, "I'm not supposed to tell you that King of Courage Jr. went to the marketplace."  
  
At the same time, Kal was ready to do whatever he had to be out the dangerous situation. Yet, there was nothing he could think of. If only he had a distraction.  
Without warning, the mysterious girl Kassim had found in the desert jumped down from the clothesline onto two of the three other thieves, knocking them unconscious. The leader looked to see what was going on, giving Kal the chance to punch his scared face as he turned back around. It didn't knock the man out, just gave the two teens a chance to run out of the ally.  
The girl was about to duck into another ally, when the prince grabbed her arm. "No, this way." They started around a corner where they were cut off by the bandit leader and the remaining thief. "Okay, I think we need a new plan," Kal thought aloud.  
The third theif took a hold of the girl, pulling her away from Kalil. She struggled and shouted, "Let go of me, you smelly son of a hog!"  
"I wouldn't say that if I were you," he snarled unsheathing a curved blade to hold under her neck.  
"I'd say it was a pretty accurate description," a voice said from above. Aladdin and Carpet hovered over them with a smirk.  
He didn't move from where he was, allowing Genie to come up from behind the two men and throw burlap sacks onto their heads. "Time for potato sack races!" Genie announced as the thieves swore and fought.  
Realizing she was free, the girl in the strange clothing tried to run once more. This time, Aladdin swooped down and caught her. "I don't think so." He sat her down on Carpet. "We are trying to help you, so just give us a chance." The words made her settle down. She crossed her arms and formed a grimace to illustrate her distaste for the situation.  
Kal climbed onto Carpet and avoided his father's eyes. "I guess I'm grounded till the end of eternity."  
"We'll talk about it later," Aladdin told his son as he watched Genie zoom away with the bandits in hand.  
"I just wanted to show you I could do it on my own," Kal defended, still staring doward.  
This caught his father off guard. "Why do you think you have to do anything on your own? Have you ever seen me do anything by myself?"  
"No, I guess not," the prince realized, "I just thought..."  
Both men noticed the girl trying to escape from atop Carpet. The took hold of her without breaking the conversation.  
"I know," Aladdin cut in, "You want to grow up and prove to everyone that you can be more than what they think you are. Trust me, it'll happen. Until then, promise you won't go looking for anymore trouble."  
  
They rode carpet back to the palace where everyone gathered in the throne room to find out the girl's story. Genie had already disposed of the thieves and was ready to hear whatever the futuristic teen had to say.  
Jasmine and Mira were the most gentle with her, while Kassim and Iago were the most demanding for answers. Aladdin was a good in-between.  
"What's your name?" was the first and probably most important inquiry.  
"Celeste Nomad," she muttered as she pulled on a string of her shirt.  
"Why did you keep running away from us?" the sultan questioned.  
Pointing a finger at Genie, Celeste stated, "I always read that genies were cruel and trick people."  
Kal sat down next to Celeste, who then slid away from him. Abu, climbed up between them and stared up at the girl in wonder. The prince asked, "How did you get here?"  
"I can't remember," she said with realization.  
"Where do you come from?"  
"I live in a house with my parents?"  
Mira chirped into the conversation. "What are they like?"  
Celeste thought long and hard. "I can't remember."  
"Can you remember your house?" Jasmine tried.  
Celeste nodded. "It was small on a busy street. My parents and I lived there with my aunt and uncle."  
"Let me guess, you can't remember your aunt and uncle either," Iago assumed, adding, "This is such a waste of time."  
"No, I remember them," Celeste triumphantly told everyone, "My uncle is this short, balding man who says 'mine' a lot. My aunt has long orange hair. She swims almost all of the time and acts like she's above all of us...I can't remember their names though."  
Aladdin gave her a little smile. "Well, what's the very last thing you remember."  
"My aunt and uncle were going to take me to meet my parents someplace, but when I stepped outside the house I was in the desert. Then, everything went black." Celeste hung her head and her red tinted hair fell over her face. "I want to go home."  
"Ooohhh," Abu sympathetically patted her hand.  
Genie flew over next to her. "I wish I knew how to send you back, but my powers are only semi-phenomenal and nearly cosmic."  
"Your welcome to stay with us until you can go home," Jasmine offered.  
Mira put in when she noticed Celeste's doubtful expression, "It's better than living in the streets, especially when it isn't your own time period. Besides, we'll have fun. It'd be nice to have another girl close my age around."  
The teenager glanced at Genie. "Does he promise to behave himself?"  
The blue man transformed into a boy scout who saluted her and said, "On my honor, I swear to help you whenever you need me and to never perform any malicious acts." His green hat fell off his head and a frog jumped out. "Oops, how did that get there?"  
Celeste hid her smirk. "How do I know that it wasn't you guys who brought me here."  
"There's only one way to find out," Kal told her, "Stick around."  
Kassim thought about the situation they were in. A girl from the future suffering from selective memory loss would be staying in Agrabah so she could find a way home. He turned to his son with a deep exhale. "I have to admit, coming to visit you is never boring."  
__________________  
WATCH FOR STORY 2: DAMSEL IN THE WRONG DRESS  
Celeste is mistaken for Mira and kidnapped by Abis Mal. Aladdin and his family must rescue her from a small band of familiar faces. 


End file.
